Winter warmth
by chloemcg
Summary: One-shot. During a visit to Tundra town for a police exchange, Nick and Judy find themselves caught in a chase. But what happens if it turns out that Judy has bitten more then she could chew after she finds herself in grave trouble? Can Nick help her and warm her heart?


**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Zootropolis, the rights and the characters belong to Disney and not me.**

 **Winter warmth**

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The air was cold yet it was as bitter as a lemon.

The mood was festive and bright as the snowflakes slowly fell. Mammals were bustling through the busy streets of a Christmassy Tundra town as they hurried to get their Christmas shopping done in time and police officer Judy Hopps and her partner Nick Wilde were just patrolling through the streets, both heavy dressed in thick winter wear as neither of them were properly acclimated to the harsh weather due to the unfamiliar conditions compared to the city of Zootropolis.

The first rabbit and first fox police officers strolled casually through the town.

As part of an exchange, the two had been asked to spend a week working over at the district of Tundra town in order to study how mammals handle the crime rate here.

It was evening and the duo were just walking along the outside, passing along several shops as they each sipped a nice cup of hot chocolate. They each had their eyes forward and neither of them could help but shiver against the cold evening air while they each focused on what the night would bring them. Nick raised his cup to his lips as he took a swig of steaming hot chocolate and sighed contentedly, pleased with the warm beverage trickling down his throat and pleasing his taste buds and warming him up inside.

The fox glanced casually down at the bunny strolling beside him as he licked remnants of the warm brown liquid off his lips.

"So, Carrots? What do you think of Tundra town?"

Judy glanced back up at Nick and smiled.

"I think it's pretty cool!" She replied, purposefully adding a pun on the end.

She had only been to Tundra town briefly when investigating the car of Mr. Big during her very first case as a real police officer, so she hadn't really seen much more of the town occupied by wintry mammals and, when looking at the town as a whole, she couldn't help but feel quite festive in a way; it was like Christmas had come early or something.

But Judy's ears perked up when she heard loud panting and rushing footsteps coming from right behind her. She could hear the feet drumming against the pavement as whomever they belonged to seemed to be in a right hurry. Her purple eyes widened as her mind registered the sounds and she quickly realised that she was about to be bowled over. She gasped as she whipped her head around and, without warning, an Ermine with arms stuffed with stolen goods dashed passed the two, almost bowling Judy and Nick over when he made a frantic dash to get away from other police officers whom had been hot on his tail but were quite a ways behind.

Judy was quick to regain her footing on the slippery pathway.

Her mind was spinning as she quickly registered what was happening right now and, without so much as thinking, she started to give chase of the wintry stoat; she didn't even give Nick time to think as she just started running and she quickly found that she seemed to be a great match in speed since within 10 seconds she was already right on this mammals tail.

"Stop in the name of the law!" Judy called out, sprinting as fast as she could as she barrelled down the streets. She had unsheathed her taser from its holster and was holding it out directly towards the fleeing mammal that she was pursuing; her fleeting feet let her bound across the pavement and she was so determined that she could only focus on the fleeing arctic mammal in front of her, she only had tunnel vision for him.

She hardly even noticed where they were both headed...

The minutes whisked by as Judy was relentless in the chase of the ermine thief that had clearly stolen a bundle of items.

Judy called out a second time, "I said stop!"

But the stoat didn't stop at all, but he did glance over his shoulder to glance at the bunny. He wore a snide smirk on his muzzle as though he were nonverbally taunting her. Judy clenched her teeth as her purple eyes set fire due to the anger and frustration she felt; she wanted this guy to stop but he seemed determined not to get caught. The voices of the police officers whom were initially chasing this mammal were far away —she could barely hear their voices since she was so far from them, but it was thanks to her excellent sense of hearing and large ears that she could even hear them at all.

The voices of the police officers whom were initially chasing this mammal were far away —she could barely hear their voices since she was so far from them, but it was thanks to her excellent sense of hearing and large ears that she even hear them at all.

The bunny officer's heart jumped high into her throat as the two suddenly had a fence leading to a big white clearing and the ermine was quick to make a desperate leap over it before making a mad dash to evade capture, carelessly dropping all the items he stole, and she narrowed her eyes determinedly as she was not going to let this guy get away! Actually, this reminded her of the police academy before she became a law enforcer. She rushed right up to the fence and proceeded to gracefully bounce over it.

Upon landing on the ground, though, when her feet made contact with the ground of the clearing, Judy noticed something odd about this new playing field; the ground was slippery, pure white and felt quite delicate beneath her.

She couldn't explain it.

Another thing she couldn't explain was that the ermine was out of her sight with only a bunch of footprints leading to the other side of this crystal white open space surrounding her. There were also quite a few airline cracks covering the ground. She was quick to take a step forward to continue chasing the thieving weasel-like-creature, but it resulted in her sliding forwards a bit.

Judy was puzzled.

What was this?

It took a few moments for the gears in the bunny's brain to start turning and realisation hit her like a smack to the face.

"O-o-o-oh, sweet cheese and crackers...!"

"CARROTS!"

Judy's ears perked right up and she turned around to face her partner, whom had started climbing the fence to try and get to her.

Nick's face was the total epitome of panic as his ears pinned back and his exotic green eyes widened in their sockets to show how fearful he was and the fur on his neck, the top of his head, the tips of his ear and his long yet luxuriously bushy tail stood up electrifyingly. The tall, lanky vulpine was trying to step over the fence so he could try and reach his partner alas he didn't get a chance to make much more of a movement before he heard the rabbit cry out in terror.

Hearing her cries, Nick raised his head.

It was ice that Judy was standing on...and it was breaking!

"C-CARROTS! Don't move! I'll come to-"

"Nicolas Wilde, don't take another step!"

Nick's terror increased tenfold when Judy told him to stay put. Why? Why didn't she want him to come near to try and save her?

"Since the ice breaks under _my_ weight, if you come on then you could fall in and drown!"

On one paw, Nick knew that Judy was right —if he did come on the ice then he could fall in and they both could drown —but at the same time he was willing to take the risk if there was the slightest chance of saving the bunny. He had to wonder how the ice was breaking to begin with since an ermine crossed it without much trouble but a light-weight bunny like her was enough to make the ice covering over the study-appearing lake start cracking. He could feel his gut knot with anxiety whilst his mind started to thread several sickeningly scary thoughts together and he worried that if he didn't intervene then the ice would break and Judy would fall in and drown!

He couldn't let that happen!

Nick opened his mouth to object but before he could squeeze a word through his vocal chords, the bunny's situation turned from bad to worse.

Judy could feel panic paralyse her. Her long ears perked up quick when they caught the sound of soft crackling, her purple eyes drifted down towards the ground and she found her heart pausing inside her chest when she noticed that the ice was cracking right from beneath her. Her pupils shrunk into tiny dots and a sharp inhale of a gasp was all she could manage before she suddenly took a downward plunge into darkness.

"JUDY!"

Nick yelped out in terror and he quickly squeezed his thin body through the fence and he proceeded to slide across the ice. His ears twitched when he heard the sounds of snapping and crackling beneath his feet, but he could hardly bring himself to care as it took the fox a solid minute to get to the hole where Judy fell through and saw nothing but water down below.

"Carrots! Carrots, please hold on!" Nick exclaimed, his mind a haze with panicked thoughts.

The ex-con artist never thought that he'd be in this position, where he'd have to save the life of a prey animal when he was simply a "sly and untrustworthy" fox. He could feel the skin beneath his vibrant auburn fur get goosebumps when he started to wonder whether Judy would survive this or not. He sniffed the air and realised that there were two mammals stood behind the fence and he whirled around to spot the two police officers whom were originally chasing that thieving ermine.

One was an Arctic Wolf and the other was an Otter, both wore worried expressions on their muzzles as they looked on.

Nick looked at them long and hard and then proceeded to make a gesture with his paw, signalling them to go after the criminal that got them in this mess to begin with. He watched as they nodded simultaneously and then proceeded to continue their pursuit.

With that taken care of, he plunged himself straight into the icy cold lake without a second thought.

The temperature plummeted to an all time low as the cold encased him entirely.

Nick could hardly keep his eyes open as he started to survey his surroundings -but it was so dark that he could hardly see a centimetre in front of him, let alone the silhouette of his partner. He couldn't help but feel so cold and surprisingly empty as he just floated, suspended in the freezing cold lake water, with his breath sucked back. He ignored these feelings and then glanced downward and pulled his body downwards.

He dived deeper into the water.

Bubbles burst from his nose and he gazed swiftly around to try and locate the drowning bunny, initialising his nighttime vision so he could try and locate Judy. His lungs started to burn and he couldn't help but clasp his throat in a claw whilst he tried to fight back the urge to was she...? Judy had to be around somewhere because if she had come up for air then she would have resurfaced.

He closed his eyes and decided to stay still for a moment.

All he could hear was the sounds of air bubbles popping, water gurgling, the sound of a soft and gentle vacuum. He sniffed a bit to see if he could pick up even the faintest scent of his partner and he almost regretted it when he found water sucking in and filling his nose. He grunted in mild discomfort but —in spite of getting water in his nose— he did manage to pick up the slightest hint of the rabbit's perfume.

His eyes snapped open again and he snapped his neck down.

He finally spotted Judy just below him.

Judy looked to be unconscious as her eyes were closed and she seemed quite peaceful since she was practically lifeless.

Seeing the bunny in such a state made the fox's heart stop with dread as he jerked himself into action as he rolled swiftly to try and make himself dive deeper into the frigid cold. He extended both arms and paddled down to try and get closer to her. He snapped his jaws together grabbed hold of the scruff of Judy's neck into his sharp teeth making sure that he had a tight hold on her as he bit on her neck yet he tried not to hurt her too badly with his sharp canines while he tried to hoist her right out of the freezing lake pool.

Judy was still lifeless as he got hold of her neck in his mouth, although he was careful to try and not hurt her. The only problem now was how to get out of the water since it was hard enough to swim down to where he was.

How was he going to get her out safely?

So, Judy still being held by the back of her neck, Nick quickly paddled up towards the surface and he desperately paddled back up in doggy-paddle strokes and he basically burst out of the icy water head-first and let in a deep gasp of air as he tried to recover the oxygen he'd lost. He felt so much relief to get his lungs reinfected He coughed and sputtered as he lurched forwards and used one claw to hook on to the edge of the hole of water and then he pried himself and Judy to safety.

Judy was safely cradled against the fox's chest, still unconscious with her ears dangling floppily behind her head. Nick held her with one arm as delicately as possible as she was very fragile right now despite normally being a tough bunny that nobody should mess with. As he cradled her, Nick stood and he started to notice that his fur felt so heavy on his body as it all sagged droopily towards the floor.

Nick had to keep from shivering.

He was certain that Carrots and himself would probably end up with hypothermia after this...

Using a free claw, he grabbed his own tail and started to wring it like a wet cloth and droplets of water squeezed out of his tail and dripped to the icy floor below. Then he shook his fur to try and make it not as heavy —but it ended up making him slightly resemble a big orange Pom-Pom and he was certain that the unconscious bunny would have certainly laughed at his appearance if only she were awake to see it.

He took a few wobbly steps towards shore and safety and Nick collapsed to his knees and still clutched the freezing cold bunny close to his chest in hopes of keeping her warm, cradling her securely in his arms. He could feel his bushy tail curl around his buckled legs as he tried to curl himself into the smallest ball he could in order to keep the freezing cold bunny warm and safe in his embrace.

His auburn fur was now covered in ice and his whole body was practically emitting this frigid cold steam.

"Carrots...?" Nick planted heavily, still trying to regulate his breathing, "Are you...you okay?"

Judy's response was a small shift of her body as she started to tremble a bit, she also started to react to the fact that her fur was dripping wet. Nick sighed with relief when he saw that.

At least she was alive.

As the fox officer knelt down, exhausted after diving into harsh and freezing cold waters, after having carried the bunny officer, he caught the glimpse of the two police officers that he'd sent after the thieving ermine and noticed that the duo had the rogue in little handcuffs and were leading him away whilst one of the two mammal officers was lugging a sack overflowing with stolen goods behind him.

Nick felt relieved that that issue had been resolved.

"Nick...?"

The fox's ears instantly perked up when he heard the familiar voice call his name and he looked down at the bunny that was asleep moments ago but now barely had her eyes open as she glanced up at him with a small smirk tugging at her lips and exposing her cute little buck-teeth. Even though the fox was a bit miffed with Judy's reckless actions, he just couldn't find it in himself to tell her off for her actions...she was far too cute.

" _Koff, koff_...did I get him...?"

Nick felt his heart freeze in his chest. Judy almost drowned and the first few words to come out of her mouth was to see if she had caught the bad guy? He couldn't help it as a warm smile spread across his muzzle and his emerald eyes softened as he held the barely-conscious bunny close to him and hugged her tightly. He never really wanted to release Judy because he was frightened that if he did then she would just float away.

He heaved a deep breath as he nuzzled her.

"Yeah...you got him, dumb bunny." He cast her a weak but sly grin as he added, "Just make sure to wait for me next time you chase a criminal, okay?"

Judy sighed as she nuzzled Nick's damp red/auburn fur.

"...Deal."

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 **A/N: This is my first Zootropolis fanfic and I'm happy with how it came out!**

 **Now, you can either interpret this as a shipping (I ship them so much) fic or a friendship fic. I don't mind. ;)**

 **Please review and fave and I hope you have a nice day!**

 **-Chloemcg**


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